1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for monitoring the status of components of a cabling system.
2. Related Art
In modern construction, the telecommunications cabling system is part of many buildings"" infrastructure. A building""s cabling system should be flexible and adaptable to the needs of the people it serves. Thus, the cabling system is frequently a dynamic, changing entity. In order to facilitate this, some transition points have been added. These points are called xe2x80x9cTelecommunications Closetsxe2x80x9d (TC) and their features and requirements are listed in the standard ANSI/TIA/EIA-569 (CSA T530), entitled xe2x80x9cCommercial Building Standards for Telecommunications Pathways and Spacesxe2x80x9d in effect on the filing date of this application. The TC is defined as the space that acts as the transition point between a network backbone, usually including one or more servers, routers, etc. and horizontal distribution pathways, going to the work area.
In accordance with the standard mentioned above, there should be at least one TC per 1000 m2 of usable floor space area and additional TC closets should be provided when the floor area exceeds 1000 m2 or the length of horizontal cabling is greater than 90 m. Thus, it is understood that a building can have several TC""s, e.g. one per floor.
The standard ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A (CSA T529-95), entitled xe2x80x9cCommercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standardxe2x80x9d in effect on the filing date of this application specifies the requirements for the buildings"" cabling structure and topology and gives the definition and the functions of the cross-connect system, which is contained in the TC.
The purpose of the cross-connects is to allow moves, add-ons and changes (MAC) between the common equipment and the work areas.
In order to keep track of the status of the cabling system, all cabling system components must be identified and labeled as specified in ANSI/TIA/EIA-606 (CSA T528) standard, entitled xe2x80x9cAdministration Standard for Telecommunications Infrastructure of Commercial Buildingsxe2x80x9d in effect on the filing date of this application. There is a minimum amount of information to be collected, recorded and maintained for each component with required information and linkages to other records.
Without a strict change control process, the cabling administration and management quickly becomes unwieldy, difficult to trace and impossible to document.
Due to an endemic lack of discipline in keeping records on moves, add-ons, changes, troubleshooting becomes costly, time consuming, difficult to plan and often leads to considerable user downtime.
Despite these drawbacks, frames and patch panels provide unparalleled flexibility to quickly routing voice and data services throughout a building and are extremely cost effective compared to other alternatives. Consequently, they are used in the cabling structure for the majority of commercial buildings.
In most cases, the administration records for the cabling structure are kept manually, sometimes using various stand-alone cable management software. Such packages are merely databases of configuration status information, which has been manually entered.
According to another approach, some manufacturers have replaced the frames and patch panels of a typical TC with a real-time online voice and data electronic switching and monitoring system. Some disadvantages of such systems are the prohibitive cost and limitations in performance.
A real time online cable management system monitors and keeps track of MACs, but desktop remote management is not possible without human resources physically making and verifying the MACs onsite. Still, real time status is given to the administrator to confirm the required changes in connectivity have been made. This way, human errors are minimized, but records are still updated manually.
Previous attempts to automatically monitor the xe2x80x9cpassivexe2x80x9d condition of a cabling system have been hampered by non-standard, proprietary designs and network performance degradation and interference issues.
One product addresses the issue by modifying the patch cord and the jack.
The system is made using the contact between an additional dedicated wire added to the plug, which comes in contact with its counterpart in the jack in order to identify the connection. Both plug and jack are non-standard, proprietary, designs.
The jacks are printed circuit board (PCB) mounted, with several jacks on the PCB board. The PCB serves also for routing the additional wire needed for inductive identification of the connection. Each connection is connected to a rack-monitoring unit through a parallel connection. Software executing in a monitoring unit identifies the connection and using a graphic interface displays information to the administrator who plans all MACs with this aide.
Once all the planned changes are done and validated in the graphic interface, system""s visual indicators light up, indicating the connections to be made.
This conventional approach has numerous disadvantages, including:
Unsuitability for existing installations, it needs non-standard jacks and patch cords;
Jacks can be only PCB-type using a lead frame with special adaptation;
Contact needed between jack and plug to indicate configuration information;
Parallel type connection leads to bulky connectors and hardware.
One known system comprises the following components:
Contact sensors that are attached to the exterior of the monitored port, several ports"" sensors being attached together using a flexible PCB;
An external patch cord cable boot with an additional wire which links the two ends of the cord; and
An electronic scanner that collects connectivity information and reports it to the graphic interface through specialized software.
A common feature of the above mentioned systems is a contact type operation between the port and the plug in order to identify and/or transfer information about the connection.
Another common feature they have is the use of an additional wire to identify the ends belonging to the same patch cord. Only with this feature can the connection be properly identified.
Without these features, the xe2x80x9cinformation loopxe2x80x9d about the connection can not be closed and the malfunction of either will cause a failure. In fact, all these systems present the disadvantages of wired technology. Faults in the wire, connectors, or any connection cause erroneous status reports.
It is a general goal of embodiments of the present invention to provide improved systems and methods for managing connectivity in a cable system.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a system for monitoring pluggable cable connectivity includes an electronic tag proximate a connector of the pluggable cable, an electronic tag reader proximate a mating position to which the connector can connect, and a monitor connected to the electronic tag reader which controls the electronic tag reader and monitors presence of the electronic tag at the electronic tag reader.